Front pages (and usually back, middle or other pages) chosen at random (more or less) from my collection of mostly 20th Century mostly British newspapers. Weekly new posts on Sundays, a Random Cutting on Wednesdays and a Random Advert on Fridays.

Sunday, 15 December 2013

John F Kenedy's Funeral

Daily Mirror dated Tuesday November 26th
1963

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The 35th President of the United States, John F
Kennedy, had been assassinated the previous Friday in Dallas, Texas. His
alleged killer, Lee Harvey Oswald, had in turn been shot while in police
custody on the Sunday. JFK’s funeral was held in Washington D.C. on the Monday.

Unfortunately,
little John F Kennedy Jr., seen on the front page above, was to die at an even
younger age than his father. He was killed in a plane crash in 1999 at the age
of 38.

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I don’t think it counts as Congressional inquiry, but the
President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known
unofficially as the Warren Commission, was set up immediately and worked from
November 1963 until September 1964 to conclude that Lee Harvey Oswald acted
alone.

In 1976 The United States House of Representatives Select
Committee on Assassinations began to investigate the assassinations of John F.
Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. The Committee concluded that Kennedy was
very likely assassinated as a result of a conspiracy.

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Harold Wilson was the Leader of the Labour Party
from 1963 until 1976 and was Prime Minister twice – 1964-1970 and 1974-1976.
And Pipe Smoker of the Year in 1965.

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I don’t think it was a coincidence that this article on the
state of primary and junior schools in the UK happened to be in the same issue
of this Labour Party supporting Daily Mirror as the advert above.

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I’m sure I’ve seen a film with this plot;
whether or not before or after 1963 I can’t remember.

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Anarchic comedian and writer Spike Milligan
appearing as the godfather.

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Before loyalty cards and reward points there
were Green Shield Stamps. Introduced in 1958 they were collected in books and
then exchanged for ‘gifts’. They ended in 1991.

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Back in 1958, four years before the first Bond film, ‘Dr
No’, Ian Fleming, John Bryce, Ernest Cuneo and Kevin McClory wrote a screenplay
for a possible Bond film. To cut a long story short, in 1960 Fleming wrote the
book ‘Thunderball’ based on the screenplay and McClory tried to stop publiation
in the High Court but failed. In 1963 McClory brought the action referred to in
the article above, but by this time Fleming’s health was deteriorating and
actually had a heart attack during the case, so he settled out of court giving
McClory literary and film rights for
the screenplay, while Fleming was given the rights to the novel. Ian Fleming
died in August 1964.

In
1965, the film Thunderball was made after producers Albert R. Broccoli and
Harry Saltzman made a deal with McClory.